Trial witness: Foster mom put girl in dog cage

A friend of Geralyn Graham told police that Graham put her
foster child Rilya Wilson in a dog cage as punishment one time.

Testimony in Graham’s trial for Wilson’s murder was delayed
Wednesday afternoon as attorneys argued over whether prosecutors could use
Detra Winfield’s statement about the dog cage to refresh Winfield’s memory,
reports CBS Miami.

Judge Maris Tinkler-Mendez ruled that prosecutors could use
the statement.

Another friend of Graham’s testified Wednesday the former
foster mom always seemed to be punishing Wilson. Laquica Tuff testified at
Graham’s trial Wednesday and told the jury Wilson was reserved and shy.

She testified that Wilson always had some sort of injury.
“There were scrapes on her arms. There was a gash on her head,” said Tuff,
reports CBS Miami. But Tuff said Graham made excuses, blaming scrapes and
gashes on Wilson's clumsiness.

Read more: 10 years later, justice due for missing foster
child

Wilson disappeared more than a decade ago when she was just
4 years old, and Graham is now on trial for her death.

“She said it was not enough money to take care of Rilya, it
wasn’t worth it,” Tuff told the jury.

Prosecutors are charging Graham with first-degree murder.
They say Graham believed Wilson was evil and possessed by demons.

In the defense’s opening statement, attorney Scott Sakin
questioned whether the girl is actually dead. Sakin also proposed that Wilson
was placed in another home and not properly documented, shifting some of the
blame onto the state's Department of Children and Families, saying it had a
history of ineptitude.

It took more than a year for the state's welfare agency to
realize Wilson was missing. A case worker had been filing false reports that
the little girl was in good condition, and authorities didn’t discover she was
missing until 2002.

Rilya Wilson’s disappearance led to major overhauls in the
DCF after it was revealed that a caseworker was falsifying reports and
administrators took little action.

Investigators believe she went missing in late 2000. Rilya's
remains have never been found.

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